Brittle nodded at her words, pleased she understood. Few did, he found; all they could think about was the pain. He smirked at the name leaving Id's lips - he actually remembered that one. She had been the one he had met on the beachside, the day Id came back with golden eyes. The only mare outside of the bondeds that even knew the shreds of his past.

Id took in Trace's words expressionlessly. Agitated? Hate? He supposed he hadn't really known the mare; she had seemed rough around the edges but not downright spirteful. He wondered vaguely if something had happened in his absence - then again, it really wasn't his place to care. She had mentioned a stallion of hers their last meeting. She would find solace in him, then. He nodded at the assessment and let the issue go, acquiescing to her silent plea - he would not force the girl, especially with the apparently strained relation between them.

The two stallions remained still at her examination; they had gone through the same with Lock, when she had first come. Brittle shifted a little to accomodate her motions. "Hate you? I cannot imagine why anyone would find fault in you, little lady, you've been nothing but grace so far."

The compliments slipped out of his easily, partially because they were true - at least to him. Id rolled his eyes at him, but said nothing to contradict. Her next question came, and he smiled a little caustically.

"We go where our Bonded wishes, and she is never still. But we return to the Fields from time to time - we shall stay here for awhile yet. There are...well, time needs to be taken."

She shook her head, frowning once more. "Hate was a bad word. Too strong. She's... covering up. Hiding her own problems by unmasking others. Pity, when you think about it," A shrug was given, her gaze settled on the forest floor. Thats the opposite of what Satin would want, though. She doesn't want anyone's charity. She just wants peace, Trace only prayed she could find it.

Then a smile was flashed to them in her weak attempts to lighten the mood, a chance to make friends was best not spent speaking of another's misfortunes.

"Grace? In what? Stallions are... Odd like that," Was stated bluntly, as far as she could tell, there was no grace in the binds upon her legs or the strangled way she spoke. The real beauty was in the way they two could speak without actually parting their lips. Looks and movements were enough, and she admired that. Connections as such were rare.

The words brought back Lock's stumbling words, Hinote's awkward adulthood - things broken with no real hope that they'd ever be put back together again. He shook his head slightly, as if to rid himself of those thoughts. Now was not the time to think of such melancholy things. He glanced at Id to see how the stallion would take further words of his acquaintance. A slight furrowing of the brow, but nothing more really. It wasn't that Id didn't care - it was just that there was nothing he could do.

But the little mare seemed to notice the darkening mood and jumped to rectify it. Brittle caught her smile like a glimmer of sunlight and returned one, gently teasing, in return. "If speaking of your graces are odd, then so be it. You may blame it upon our barbaric ways, m'lady, if it please you. But no, your grace is in willingness to extend the hand of friendship to us, even after we so frightened you before. You seem a kind soul, and that is rare for ones such as us."

He could feel the tension leaving Id as he spoke - it was the closest thing, he supposed, to a laugh that he'd get out of the stallion when they weren't alone. He looked to him as he started to answer the new question; there were certain things Id would not want others to know, and Brittle did not want to go to far.

"Sparring is something that we do to make sure our skills do not falter in times of peace. It is mainly a passtime of Warriors, Lady Trace, a friendly fight in which one need not bet his life nor honor."

"Barbaric is the last word I would use for you two," Her own smile became slightly teasing, as she finally gave in to this little game, "Diamonds in the rough, untamed, carefree... unbound. The way most would love to live, I'm sure." An acusing stare was thrown at Brittle, although her innocent grin was far from angry, "And YOU! Enough with this... Lady jibber jabber. I am Trace, nothing more. Keep it up and you may gain titles of your own."

Prancing steps brought her to the other side to better examine the bruise on Id's shoulder, frowning a tad. "...Friendly?"

She glanced between them, that ever-present smile still casting out to them. This was a rare moment in history, indeed. Only one other being had ever seen her this... Open, or speak this much.

The bird's resounding screech spooked her once again, causing her to jump aside with tremors rumbling beneath her skin. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. She quickly settled and dropped her head, what little confidence that had been there was now brusied, but not shattered. Her gaze had dropped as she spoke again, her voice bearly a whisper.

"In the rough we may be, but hardly diamonds," Brittle chuckled, secretly preening at the compliment. "It is a term better suited for you, m'lady. And our lives are not as free as you think - sometimes even the road becomes a chain. It is almost...nice to be settled awhile."

Oddly enough, it was Id that answered her play-tirade, perhaps for the fact that she came so close in her examination of his wound. "It is Brittle's way."

The other stallion looked at him almost in shock; it was hardly ever that the silent warrior spoke without being spoken to first. Id caught his disbelief with a vague grin, which only served to startle him more. "You are female - you will bear a title. There is no way around it."

Brittle's smile was borderline elated; it seemed he was pleased that his companion could bring himself to speak in more that monosyllabic utterances. "It is the truth, little lady. All the mares in my acquaintance have had to suffer my strange ways, though I cannot for the life of me think why they see it as such a burden. I only try to express their individual graces."

He nodded at her concern over Id's condition. "A lady you are, or even a little angel. You show a true concern over such wayward strangers and move with fey grace, even in-"

The bird's cry and her almost violent reaction cut him short. If he had not been a Warrior and used to keeping his cool he might've perceived an attack - but there was no sense of such. Id tensed instantly but nothing more; she had been almost at his side when she had shied, and he had had to bite down his instinctual strike. Brittle's eyes furrowed at her bruised ego, her shyness, almost as if blaming herself for some crime. She was almost exactly like Mist had been - what a wicked world if there existed another such broken soul.

"There is nothing to apologize for, Trace," he soothed, using her name as she wished, all traces of teasing and banter gone. "It is natural for one to be frightened - not something that merits punishment. It's alright."

Quick steps were taken back from Id's side, almost instantly relieving him of her close presence. Trace had spotted the stallion's taunt form and cursed at herself, after having actually spoken to her... She had to go and break the moment.

"Fright is one thing... Coward... is another," Was mumbled, hardly audible. Ruffled feathers were stretched then shuffled back down, flat against her sides once more. The trembling in her joints had ceased and she returned to the calm but weary state of mind, nervously eyeing the pair before her. She was not cautious, only waiting to see if the acceptance was still there.

"If not diamonds... Then... Courteous, gallant," Her words were softer now, the flicker of a smile lingering behind the angel's lips, her halo hanging unnoticed between her ears. "You were no longer strangers the moment you offered your names."

The was a slight pause as she churned his words over in her mind, carefully picking her next words.

"Cause she was an angel in disguise... Hurt and pain could never come from her...